Observatory: Low-Frequency All-Sky Monitor (LoFASM)

Construction of a radio telescope being built by local Univerity of Texas at Brownsville and high school students is under way. The project was developed and carried out by undergraduate students at UTB-TSC and high school students selected as Arecebo Remote Command Center Scholars. According its website, the ARCC scholarship program recruits and trains the next generation of radio astronomers while preparing students for top graduate programs in science and engineering.

LoFASM is funded by the U.S Department of Defense, led by the Center for Advanced Radio Astronomy at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College in collaboration with the Naval Research Laboratory, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of New Mexico.

15 conical antennae, each 1.8m x 1.8m will collect radio wave data in the low < 88 MHz frequency band. 
LoFASM is expected to be operational by the end of 2012.

Read the full story at the brownsvilleherald.com

Links: 
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012AAS...21942235R

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South African Tradesmen, Artisans Feel SKA's Impact

South African rhinoceros. Pic: sxc.hu

SKA looks likely to create a renaissance in South African artisanship (trades skills).

Tens of thousands of skilled workers could be required for the Square Kilometre Array and associated construction according to Jasper Horrell, the general manager of science, computing and innovation at SKA South Africa.

After completing the 64-dish MeerKAT, 250 mid-frequency antennas will be built in South Africa and nearby countries, and then 500 other receivers... besides which the IT component is so huge it hasn't been designed yet... because the tech doesn't exist...

Read the full story from iol.co.za after the jump:
http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/ska-project-to-bolster-training-of-sa-artisans

India to Become SKA Member.

India.

In what is great news for the scientific community and science itself, India appears to be poised to move from associate to full membership in the Square Kilometre Array non-profit organization according to a report from: telegraphindia.com

Members of the SKA Organisation:
• Australia: Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
• Canada: National Research Council
• China: National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Italy: National Institute for Astrophysics
• Netherlands: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
• New Zealand: Ministry of Economic Development
• Republic of South Africa: National Research Foundation
• Sweden: Onsala Space Observatory
• United Kingdom: Science and Technology Facilities Council

Associate member:
• India: National Centre for Radio Astrophysics

India's full membership will bring a wealth of established expertise in radio astronomy via the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) see: my GMRT page and other projects - as well as help foster an interest in radio astronomy and cosmology amongst the world's brainiest people.

We will find out about India's membership status for sure at the SKA board meeting in Perth WA this October.





Sources:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120715/jsp/nation/story_15730813.jsp#.UAIFkpF2FlI
http://www.skatelescope.org/the-organisation/

Botswana Prepares for SKA

Elephants in Botswana.  Image: stock.xchng

Government employees in Botswana are working overtime preparing for the start of SKA construction there, set for 2014. Four sites are proposed for SKA receiver installations in Botswana - in Ngamiland, Kweneng, Tsabong and Ghanzi Districts. 

Besides infrastructure construction, the SKA project is also creating a new area of scientific research. The University of Botswana now offers courses in radio astronomy (although details are not on their website yet), and the South African Government is also providing four scholarships so far to Batswana (citizens of Botswana) in science-based disciplines. 

Stay tuned for further developments! 

Sources: www.mmegi.bw

Spectr-R Helps Create Telescope with 350,000km Aperture

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn and the Astro Space Center in Moscow have published the interferometric results from a joint observation between the radio telescope aboard the Spektr-R satellite and the Effelsberg 100-m receiver. With a distance between them of 350,000 kms, a resolution of 40 micro arc seconds was acheived.

The target was BL Lacertae, an Active Galactic Nucleus approximately 900 million light years away.

Follow the link for the full story:   http://www.mpg.de/5888127/interferometric_signals

Convergence

Observatory: Murchison Widefield Array (MWA)

The MWA cross-correlates signals from 128 phased tiles of 16 crossed dipoles (each). The field of view is about 30 degrees across.

The MWA is a technology and science pathfinder for the SKA and is located at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO).

Observatory: РАТАН-600 - РАдиоТелескоп Академии Наук, or the Academy of Science Radio Telescope (RATAN-600)

РАТАН-600 - РАдиоТелескоп Академии Наук, or 'the Academy of Science Radio Telescope', Russia's RATAN600 radio telescope has a 600m dish and is a marvel of ingenuity and innovation.

Inspired by the success of the restored Pulkova Observatory, in 1965 the Russian astrophysics community decided to build a fully modern radio telescope. There were different ideas about that, but in 1967, a technical plan was approved and released, and in 1968 earth moving began at a quiet spot 970 m.above sea level in the North Caucasus, where nearby a 6m optical  telescope observatory was also being built.

The Special Astrophysical Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR Leningrad Branch directed the planning and construction of the radio telescope and the development of it's instrumentation. The actual work was done via partnerships under the Ministries of Power Engineering, Machine Engineering, Electronic Industry, and others.

But the most demanding, complex work was performed by the radio astronomers themselves - the staff of the Leningrad Branch of the SAO and the Radio Astronomy Section of the SAE in Zelenchukskaya. This work included the following:

• final surfacing of the panels (none of the enterprises drawn to the project undertook this work),
• putting the first sector of the main reflector into operation (the north section in 1974), 
• the geodesic and radiometric adjustment of the main mirror and developing the corresponding instruments, and, finally, 
• the high-sensitivity radiometers were constructed by the joint efforts of engineer-radio astronomers and enterprises in the electronics industry.

The RATAN was officially opened in 1977, although observations began earlier, and development is continuing even now.

The RATAN-600 consists of a 576 m diameter circle of 895 rectangular radio reflectors. Each of the 2×7.4 m reflectors can be pointed towards a central conical receiver or to one of five cylindric reflectors, making a partially steerable antenna with the resolving power of a 600 m diameter dish (when using the central conical receiver). This is the world's largest diameter individual radio telescope.

Radio frequency observations can be made in the frequency band 610 MHz to 30 GHz, though primarily in the centimetric waveband, with an angular resolution of up to 2 arcseconds.

RATAN-600 has also contributed to radio observation for the SETI project and is currently working with the Max Planck Institute's research. Interstingly, solar corona observation has it own group.

Visit for a full history: http://www.sao.ru/hq/CG/cold/part2.htm


http://www.sao.ru/ratan/
The RATAN-600 is also the first aperture-synthesis reflector-type telescope.
solar group: http://www.sao.ru/hq/sun/
http://www.sao.ru/ratan/technic/desc.html.en

Observatory: Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) India

The design breakthrough : GMRT is an indigenous project. The construction of 30 large (45m) dishes at a relatively small cost has been possible due to an important technological breakthrough achieved by Indian scientists and engineers in the design of light-weight, low-cost dishes. The design is based on what is being called the `SMART' concept - for Stretch Mesh Attached to Rope Trusses. 

Smart alright, 8 times more sensitive than VLA at 327 MHz. 

Link:
http://www.gmrt.ncra.tifr.res.in/ 

 

VLBI array: Multi-Element Radio-Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN)

as

MERLIN antennas. Image: Alastair Gunn

Wavelength	151 MHz to 24 GHz
Angular resolution	40 milliarcseconds at 5 GHz
Website	http://www.merlin.ac.uk

Observatory: Long Wavelength Array (LWA) USA

The Long Wavelength Array (LWA) is a radio telescope under construction in central New Mexico USA.  It is one of only a few observatories to work with such low frequencies
When complete, it will consist of 53 stations, with a total of 13,000 dipole antennas strategically placed in an area nearly 400 kms in diameter, to scan the sky at HF and VHF frequencies. Each antenna stands about 1.5 m high and about 2.7 m across the base. The first station, with 256 antennas, is scheduled to start surveying the sky in summer 2011. 

Long Wavelength Array
Location	adjacent to the Very Large Array in New Mexico.
Coordinates	34°04′N 107°38′W
Wavelength	3.4–30 m (10–88 MHz)
Built	2009–
First light	7 April 2011
Telescope style	phased array of 50 stations, each with 256 dipole antennas
Diameter	400 km
Collecting area	1 square kilometer
Mounting	fixed
Website	lwa.phys.unm.edu	[2010 info as at July 2012]

 ^{- from Wiki}

Observatory: MeerKAT

MeerKAT is the Southern Hemisphere's most powerful radio telescope. It will form 25% of the SKA Phase 1 dish array in South Africa.KAT-7 is the current configuration of seven receivers.

Technical Specifications

Number of antennae	64
Dish diameter	13.5 m
Minimum baseline	29 m
Maximum baseline	20 km
Frequency bands (receivers)	0.58 – 1.015 GHz, 1 – 1.75 GHz, 8 – 14.5 GHz

Links:
http://www.ska.ac.za/meerkat/index.php MeerKAT home
http://www.ast.uct.ac.za/laduma/Home.html   The Laduma survey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MeerKAT  Wiki page

Orbiting observatory: Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR)

NuSTAR is a CalTech/NASA orbiting X-ray telescope,

News:
http://www.disclose.tv/news/NuSTAR_Successfully_Deploys_Huge_Mast/85396

 Links:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/nustar/main/index.html
http://www.nustar.caltech.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NuSTAR

Observatory: Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP)

ASKAP is situated in a radio qiuet zone (RQZ) at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), approximately 315km northeast of Geraldton in Western Australia.

ASKAP consists of:

• Thirty-six 12m antennas 
• with a max. baseline of about 6 km., 
• working as a single instrument
• to scan the skies for radio waves at a frequency range from 700 MHz to 1.8 GHz 
• with 36 independent beams, "each of about 1 square degree, yield overlapping to a 30 square degree field-of-view at 1.4 GHz". 
• Currently being retrofitted with new Aussie tech, phased array feed receivers, to expand their width of field.

• Information on ASKAP's antennas
• Information on ASKAP's receivers
• Information on ASKAP's smart feeds
• Information on ASKAP's digital systems
• Information on ASKAP's data transport and signal transmission systems
• Information on ASKAP's computing architecture
• Information on the Parkes Testbed Facility
• Latest ASKAP Update newsletter

Editorial: Astrophysicists Call Plasma Dark Matter, Maintain Confusion

"1st Dark Matter Bridge Discovered Linking Two Galaxy Clusters" says the headline. Half the universe's matter in a 58 million light-year long 'finger', says the article. Universe has 'dark matter skeleton.' it continues... that governs structure formation, it says.

The facts: 

• Abell 222 and Abell 223 are 'galaxy clusters' 2.7 billion light-years away. 

• Data from XMM-Newton and the Subaru Telescope shows an energetic link between them.

• 10% of the mass in that energetic flow is planets etc

• 9% is 'hot gas'

 

 Editorial view.

The EU perspective is easy - the rest of the matter in the energy link is a purer form of plasma, sans gas., yes, 'dark-mode' or invisible plasma. 

The Dailygalaxy.com article uses the word 'filament' nine times but only manages to hint at the existence of plasma once, when referring to hot gas. That is most likely because standard cosmology tends to understate plasma's significance and ubiquity; so too with the EM force.

By sidestepping dealing with plasma and electricity, the Academy has already made itself a muffled-giggling-stock by being completely wrong about the sun.

Mal-terminology is another issue. Terms like 'dark matter', 'black holes' and yes, even 'dark mode' plasma are obviously simply borrowings from the Dark Ages. The adjective denotes a lack of knowledge about the subject and is not descriptive at all. This kind of confusing nomenclature is not very conducive to the promotion of popular science, nor proper science.

 Prediction:

These kinds of 'bridges' will be found to be common. Very common, and a closer focus will find them to consist of twisted current pairs.


Original article: credit to http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/07/1st-dark-matter-bridge-discovered-linking-two-galaxy-clusters.html

Beautiful photo of night sky above Parkes RT, Australia

Check out this stunning night sky photo, after the jump:

http://twanight.org/?id=3003678

Observatory: Primeval Structure Telescope (PaST), also called 21 Centimetre Array (21CMA)

"PaST will consist an array of some10,160 2-meter log periodic antennas spread over several square kilometers. It will capture a detailed radio image of the sky in the range of fifty to two-hundred megahertz. The telescope is built on the high plateau of Ulastai in the west of Xinjiang province, a remote area away from most television and radios signals that may interfere the weak 21 cm background signals." - from wikipedia

China's PaST, or 21CMA. Image from http://21cma.bao.ac.cn/n

Links: 
http://21cma.bao.ac.cn/  Website

Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope (The Lovell Telescope)

Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope, Cheshire, England. Photo: Smabs Sputzer

This fully steerable 76 m dish became the face of radio astronomy when inaugurated in 1957. Refurbished by Manchester University in 200-2002, the receiver 


Links: 
http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/ Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
http://www.jodrellbank.net/   Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre
http://www.ianridpath.com/stamps/jodrell.htm The Jodrell bank receiver on postage stamps

Observatory: Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA)

2124 m up, near Socorro, New Mexico, USA, is the the understatedly named Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array.

Twenty-seven 25 m receivers are arranged in a 21 km "Y"
The smallest angular resolution that can be reached is about 0.05 arcseconds at a wavelength of 7 mm.
The frequency coverage is 74 MHz to 50 GHz (400 to 0.7 cm).

I won't rave on about the VLA though, just check out the NRAO's excellent websites under 'Links' on this page.


News:
I'll Still Call It the VLA  June 26, '12



Links: 

Karl G. Jansky - wiki

http://www.vla.nrao.edu

https://science.nrao.edu/facilities/evla

http://www.vla.nrao.edu/genpub/tours/

http://www.nrao.edu/index.php/about/facilities/vlaevla

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Array

http://www.flickr.com/groups/vla/

http://sundog.stsci.edu/